By the time I began to write about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-'80s, Jerome Robbins, always aloof, had reached the age and eminence that he didn't need to talk to dance critics on the Other Coast, as they call it in New York.So I never met him, though I did get a quote once, in writing, via his agent, when "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" stopped in San Francisco on its national tour.But I cherish my two Robbins sightings, which say something about the choreographer that I doubt he would have said about himself in words, if words we had exchanged.

Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins Amanda Vaill Broadway Books / 675 pages / $40 Few artists influenced Broadway or ballet as much as he did, and no one else so profoundly influenced both. Jerome Robbins conquered - and in many ways defined - both the musical and modern American ballet, a genius by nature while, by reputation, all too often an S.O.B. The gifted, troubled, complicated choreographer infamously named names during the communist witch hunt. When a dancer once blamed her lackluster performance on learning, just before curtain, that her fiance had been killed, he told her that if it had been anyone but her, that person would have been out of the show.

When you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way and that's as true now as it was in 1961 when Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' brilliant version of the Broadway musical "West Side Story" reached the screen to thunderous acclaim.Styles in musical theater have changed since then; now the paleo-mythic bombast of slick Brits like Andrew Lloyd Webber, or "Les Miserables" creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, seems to rule. That doesn't change the fact that "West Side Story" is a terrific musical, much of it actually shot on the streets where it took place, and it's as wonderful now -- particularly on the big screen of the Senator Theatre in a ravishing 70 millimeter roadshow print, where it will nest for a week -- as it was then.

IT WAS A sobering moment. I had just finished showing a class of graduate students a video of Jerome Robbins' landmark first ballet, Fancy Free, and was explaining how much it had amazed and excited the audience attending its Ballet Theatre premiere in 1944. Yes, I assured them, there had been ballets with American themes and subject matter before, but none that captured the spirit of the times quite so boldly. The three sailors who cartwheeled onto the stage looked like guys you'd see every day on the streets of New York during World War II - buddies to the end, even as they vied for the attention of a couple of friendly girls in the hours before their leave ended.

The New York Times said in an editorial on Friday:Lights dimmed for a moment last night on Broadway, the theater world's way of honoring Jerome Robbins, one of the century's great choreographers. Robbins, who died in New York City on Wednesday at age 79, left his legendary imprint on every Broadway show he touched, on every ballet he crafted and on audiences who felt his untethered genius behind the athletic rumble in "West Side Story" or in "Watermill," a ballet executed with such exacting slowness that George Balanchine described it as being without time.

Washington -- "Peter and the Wolf" has long been a delightful way to introduce children to classical music. American Ballet Theatre's production of Michael Smuin's ballet of the same title that opened the company's weeklong engagement at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night cleverly brought the visual to musical exposition.In addition to this lighthearted ballet, the program featured the area premiere of Ulysses Dove's "Serious Pleasures" and other dances by Jerome Robbins. "Peter and the Wolf," narrated by humorist Art Buchwald, was a fanciful adaptation of the well-known Russian tale.

Mikhail Baryshnikov has found his niche as a 40-something dancer, and he's not dancing ballet. This time, Mr. Baryshnikov and a handful of exquisite dancers are presenting two programs of distinctly modern works at the Warner Theatre in Washington.Program A., seen on Wednesday's opening night, provided works by Hanya Holm, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham and Joachin Schlomer. Additional works by Mark Morris, Kevin O'Day and Twyla Tharp will be performed during a sold-out Washington stay.

IT WAS A sobering moment. I had just finished showing a class of graduate students a video of Jerome Robbins' landmark first ballet, Fancy Free, and was explaining how much it had amazed and excited the audience attending its Ballet Theatre premiere in 1944. Yes, I assured them, there had been ballets with American themes and subject matter before, but none that captured the spirit of the times quite so boldly. The three sailors who cartwheeled onto the stage looked like guys you'd see every day on the streets of New York during World War II - buddies to the end, even as they vied for the attention of a couple of friendly girls in the hours before their leave ended.

By Nelson Pressley and Nelson Pressley,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | April 13, 2000

For some people, getting nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, Washington's annual theater prize, would be reason to jump for joy. Ilona Kessell, the resident choreographer at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, was nominated twice last month for her work on "Follies" and "State Fair." Her reaction? "I try not to think about it," the 46-year-old Baltimore County resident says. Her reason is personal: The Hayes Awards didn't recognize dinner theater for a number of years, and a little resentment lingers.

Washington--"Peter and the Wolf" has long been a delightful way to introduce children to classical music. American Ballet Theatre's production of Michael Smuin's ballet of the same title that opened the company's weeklong engagement at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night cleverly brought the visual to musical exposition.In addition to this lighthearted ballet, the program featured the area premiere of Ulysses Dove's "Serious Pleasures" and other dances by Jerome Robbins. "Peter and the Wolf," narrated by humorist Art Buchwald, was a fanciful adaptation of the well-known Russian tale.

By Nelson Pressley and Nelson Pressley,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | April 13, 2000

For some people, getting nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, Washington's annual theater prize, would be reason to jump for joy. Ilona Kessell, the resident choreographer at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, was nominated twice last month for her work on "Follies" and "State Fair." Her reaction? "I try not to think about it," the 46-year-old Baltimore County resident says. Her reason is personal: The Hayes Awards didn't recognize dinner theater for a number of years, and a little resentment lingers.

After learning of the inexperience of the director and cast, I wasn't optimistic about Sunday's performance of "West Side Story" at the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre.How could "West Side Story," the masterpiece born of the collaborative efforts of three theater geniuses -- composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and choreographer Jerome Robbins -- be turned over to novices?"West Side Story" looms large, with its brilliant Bernstein score, perfectly wedded lyrics penned by a 27-year-old Sondheim, and the exuberance expressed by pre-eminent choreographer Robbins.

By the time I began to write about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-'80s, Jerome Robbins, always aloof, had reached the age and eminence that he didn't need to talk to dance critics on the Other Coast, as they call it in New York.So I never met him, though I did get a quote once, in writing, via his agent, when "Jerome Robbins' Broadway" stopped in San Francisco on its national tour.But I cherish my two Robbins sightings, which say something about the choreographer that I doubt he would have said about himself in words, if words we had exchanged.

The New York Times said in an editorial on Friday:Lights dimmed for a moment last night on Broadway, the theater world's way of honoring Jerome Robbins, one of the century's great choreographers. Robbins, who died in New York City on Wednesday at age 79, left his legendary imprint on every Broadway show he touched, on every ballet he crafted and on audiences who felt his untethered genius behind the athletic rumble in "West Side Story" or in "Watermill," a ballet executed with such exacting slowness that George Balanchine described it as being without time.

An article in yesterday's Today section misstated the name of the actress portraying the trumpet-playing stripper in the production of "Gypsy" at Theatre on the Hill. The actress is Dine Mongold.The Sun regrets the error.Although the musical "Gypsy" is named for stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, the main character is actually Gypsy's mother. A production doesn't stand a chance without a strong Mama Rose (the archetypal stage mother), and at Theatre on the Hill, brassy Valerie J. di-Lorenzo is definitely a strong presence.

Mikhail Baryshnikov has found his niche as a 40-something dancer, and he's not dancing ballet. This time, Mr. Baryshnikov and a handful of exquisite dancers are presenting two programs of distinctly modern works at the Warner Theatre in Washington.Program A., seen on Wednesday's opening night, provided works by Hanya Holm, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham and Joachin Schlomer. Additional works by Mark Morris, Kevin O'Day and Twyla Tharp will be performed during a sold-out Washington stay.

Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins Amanda Vaill Broadway Books / 675 pages / $40 Few artists influenced Broadway or ballet as much as he did, and no one else so profoundly influenced both. Jerome Robbins conquered - and in many ways defined - both the musical and modern American ballet, a genius by nature while, by reputation, all too often an S.O.B. The gifted, troubled, complicated choreographer infamously named names during the communist witch hunt. When a dancer once blamed her lackluster performance on learning, just before curtain, that her fiance had been killed, he told her that if it had been anyone but her, that person would have been out of the show.

After learning of the inexperience of the director and cast, I wasn't optimistic about Sunday's performance of "West Side Story" at the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre.How could "West Side Story," the masterpiece born of the collaborative efforts of three theater geniuses -- composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and choreographer Jerome Robbins -- be turned over to novices?"West Side Story" looms large, with its brilliant Bernstein score, perfectly wedded lyrics penned by a 27-year-old Sondheim, and the exuberance expressed by pre-eminent choreographer Robbins.

Washington--"Peter and the Wolf" has long been a delightful way to introduce children to classical music. American Ballet Theatre's production of Michael Smuin's ballet of the same title that opened the company's weeklong engagement at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night cleverly brought the visual to musical exposition.In addition to this lighthearted ballet, the program featured the area premiere of Ulysses Dove's "Serious Pleasures" and other dances by Jerome Robbins. "Peter and the Wolf," narrated by humorist Art Buchwald, was a fanciful adaptation of the well-known Russian tale.

Washington -- "Peter and the Wolf" has long been a delightful way to introduce children to classical music. American Ballet Theatre's production of Michael Smuin's ballet of the same title that opened the company's weeklong engagement at the Kennedy Center Opera House last night cleverly brought the visual to musical exposition.In addition to this lighthearted ballet, the program featured the area premiere of Ulysses Dove's "Serious Pleasures" and other dances by Jerome Robbins. "Peter and the Wolf," narrated by humorist Art Buchwald, was a fanciful adaptation of the well-known Russian tale.